Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver

• Spain financed Columbus' expedition in hopes of finding a new, less expensive passage to the treasures of the Indies and Asia.

• The Christian world was waging a war against Islam.

• After 800 years, Spain finally regained the city of Granada.

• The Pope granted great tracts of land in Latin America to Queen Isabella and to Portugal.
• The Indians are terrified of the strange newcomers and their horses.

• Montezuma thought the invaders were the return of the god Quetzalcoatl, reputed to have white skin and yellow hair.

• The Indians were defeated by the men on horseback and their weapons, but mostly by the devastating diseases the Europeans brought with them.
• Because of its treasures, Latin Americans are forced into labor by Europeans, becoming the horse to Europe's horsemen.

• Potosi, once the jewel of Latin America, now lies in ruin in one of the poorest...